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Villa chief hails Sherwood

Date published: Friday 29th May 2015 5:01

Sherwood took over from previous boss Paul Lambert in February with the club languishing in the bottom three of the Premier League, but steered Villa to safety in the league and to a place in the FA Cup final.

Villa take on Arsenal in Saturday’s showpiece at Wembley and Fox says Sherwood should take all the credit for instilling confidence in a group of players who were struggling before he arrived.

Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, he said: “He has taken a group of players that were lacking confidence and were very down.

“He’s turned them into a side that has played somevery exciting and attacking football punctuated by the semi-final performance against Liverpool.

“The players felt better about themselves and about the squad than they had in several years on the back of that result.

“He’s really been able to get the players to play their potential and it’s been fun to watch.”

Villa striker Christian Benteke has been linked with a move away from Villa Park after the FA Cup final but Fox says the club will be trying to keep their prize asset who has two years left to run on his contract.

He added: “I know Christian has two years of his contract left and I know we are going into an FA Cup tomorrow really relying on him up front.

“He’s a huge part of what got us to that point right now. I really have no idea what is going to happen in the summer except to say obviously he’s an important part of our club and we are going to go into the summer tryinm to find ways to extend his deal and keep him.”